Le Combat perpétuel entre le Bien et le Mal

Ce dernier trouve son expression dans la mélopée «Ordo Virtutum», «l’Ordre des Vertus» dont la musique et les textes ont été composés par Hildegarde. Vices et vertus, confrontées dans 35 dialogues, symbolisent la lutte perpétuelle entre le bien et le mal, en l’homme lui-même et dans le monde. En 1150, après avoir quitté le Disibodenberg, non sans de longues et pénibles discussions, Hildegarde accompagnée de 20 religieuses, s’installe au monastère de Rupertsberg. C’est là que sera joué pour la première fois, en 1152, le drame allégorique musical – le tout premier transmis avec accompagnement musical. Il sera joué pour la seconde fois, dans sa version originale, 800 ans plus tard, en 1982 dans le décor roman grandiose de l’église Saint Martin (Groß Sankt Martin) à Cologne. Weiterlesen

L’Univers (le Cosmos), Œuvre de Dieu

En rédigeant son troisième grand ouvrage «Liber Divinorum Operum», «Livre des Œuvres divines», achevé en 1174 après un travail colossal de 11 ans, Hildegarde réalise un nouveau chef-d’oeuvre.

Son écriture cosmogonique puissante laisse resplendir l’univers au lecteur comme Œuvre divine. La puissance de l’Amour de Dieu est à l’origine de la Création, de l’Incarnation en la personne de son Fils, de la Rédemption des péchés du monde à la fin des temps, embrassant tout l’univers en une seule unité. L’homme apparaît comme un microcosme reflétant, à travers sa condition physique et spirituelle, l’ordre du cosmos entier, du macrocosme. Dieu a donné une forme humaine à chaque élément de la Création. Weiterlesen

L’Union du Salut et de la Guérison

Hildegarde renvoie ainsi le besoin de l’homme de délivrance à un concept holistique mêlant étroitement la cosmologie, l’anthropologie et la théologie. Selon Hildegarde, la Lumière de la Grâce divine fait reconnaître à l’homme son imperfection et son besoin de guérison.

Celui qui reste sourd à l’appel et abuse de sa liberté dans l’illusion d’une autonomie absolue tombe dans le péché et la culpabilité, provoque un dysfonctionnement d’ordre physique et spirituel entraînant par la suite un désordre des éléments du cosmos. La guérison du corps et de l’âme ne peuvent venir que d’un rapprochement de Dieu, de la foi qui engendre les bonnes actions, un équilibre de vie qui rend corps et âme à nouveau sains. Weiterlesen

La Puissance de la Vérité sans détours, ni apparats

Dans ses prières prophétiques et surtout dans ses lettres, Hildegarde s’exprime de manière unique et distincte. 390 pièces provenant d’une correspondance volumineuse ont été précieusement conservées jusqu’à nos jours et témoignent de la franchise intrépide de ses préoccupations exprimées en admonestations, de sa bonté naturelle empreinte d’enthousiasme et d’humour, de son engagement personnel et de son influence importante dans le monde politique ainsi que dans les débats religieux. Ses conseils étaient appréciés même s’ils n’étaient pas toujours flatteurs et agréables à entendre. Ses biographes contemporains décrivent de la même manière le ton de ses sermons qu’elle prononça partout, dans les campagnes, sur les places de marchés, d’églises: à Cologne, Trêves, Wurtzbourg et Bamberg, à Siegburg, Eberbach, Hirsau, Zwiefalten et Maulbronn. Weiterlesen

Our Monastic Vows

After a period of probation lasting almost six years, a Benedictine nun binds herself to God and the community with three vows. With the vow of stability („stabilitas“) we commit ourselves to remain in the once chosen place and to root our life totally in God.
We do not strive to change our environment nor the external circumstances, but ourselves. With the vow of conversion of manners („conversatio morum“) we promise to live a life following the Gospel. God’s call to every Christian to be ready on an ongoing basis, to rethink and to change one’s ways is meant here.

Such a call is also an ever-new motivation, not to despair in the face of one’s own weakness, but to be prepared tirelessly to start anew. With the vow of obedience („oboedientia“), which the Benedictine takes, we enter knowingly and voluntarily into a dependency on other people, believing that we will encounter God’s will in this way.
Obedience out of love for Christ and as his disciple protects against being trapped in one’s own ideas and whims and from revolving only around oneself. By a readiness for dialogue, by listening and by being responsive to the directions of another, we make every effort to be open to God and to fellow human beings.

Our Prayer

Apart from the most important criteria for the genuineness of a calling, the search for God, St Benedict mentioned „zeal for the work of God“ as a characteristic. Therefore worship and liturgy are at the centre of monastic life. According to St Benedict’s instructions, nothing is to be preferred to the work of God, so the entire day is structured by the liturgy of the hours. Seven times a day the community gathers in the choir for prayer: The Divine Office at the Abbey of St Hildegard is generally sung in Latin according to the church’s monastic tradition. It is in this way that our solidarity with the universal church finds expression. In the daily celebration of the Eucharist, the core of the monastic day, we consciously foster the use of Gregorian Chant, which interprets the word of God in a unique musical way and belongs to the great traditions of the Western Church.

The psalms are of fundamental significance within the Divine Office. All human feeling and experience find expression in these Old Testament songs and prayers in a singular way: praise and thanksgiving, remembering God’s deeds of salvation, trust and joy, longing for God, pain, lamentation and intercession. In this way all adversities and joys of the world, but also specific personal concerns of those close to us are brought before God.

Our Work

„The monks [and the nuns] shall live by the labour of their hands“ is what St Benedict laid down in his rule. Our work, therefore, is to support the community on the one hand and on the other it has an important function in spiritual life. „Ora et labora“ – prayer and work form an inseparable unity.

First and foremost in a convent of 56 nuns (comprising five generations), 8 employees and an average of 20 guests, there is of course all the necessary work to be done which involves running a household and organizing the daily life of a community: work in kitchen and laundry, growing fruits and vegetables, taking care of the grounds and buildings, sewing and wood working. There’s also the infirmary and the administration office.
Many of our sisters lovingly perform their daily duties in all of these areas with tireless dedication. Especially those tasks, which on the outside seem rather nondescript, are the ones that support the community and profoundly hold it together. In this, a Benedictine community resembles a traditional extended family with all the daily chores and cares. In accordance with the traditions of our abbey there always are some nuns who devote their time to scholarly research on St Hildegard. Sisters of our community critically edited the main works of our convent’s patron saint. Based on these editions, further individual research work is beginning to take shape now.
Some other sisters attend to groups of visitors and Hildegard pilgrims all year round and give talks about Hildegard’s life and work or about our Benedictine life. From its earliest beginnings, monastic life was also associated with apostolic work. Recalling these old traditions, our community was able to respond to inquiries and meet new challenges in recent years. Three of our sisters are now working in pastoral care.
One is in charge of pastoral care at St Josef’s Hospital in Rüdesheim, the second is a spiritual director to Catholic chaplains in the German armed forces, and since July 2002 the third is responsible for the care of pilgrims to the shrine of St Hildegard in the former abbey church which is now the parish church of St Hildegard at Eibingen.

The Abbey Shop

Our community supports itself directly from the income of the Abbey’s businesses. A team of four sisters and two employees works hard in our bookshop, doing their best to offer our visitors all that a sophisticated customer with intellectual and spiritual interests might be looking for these days: religious books, selected literature, guiding and counselling books, cards, craft items, ceramics, icons and calendars. A wide range of goods invites the visitor to linger and browse, and there is opportunity for personal contact and conversation. Ordering goods from home is also possible – by telephone, fax, e-mail or via the Internet.

The Arts and Crafts Workshops

Additionally, the arts and crafts workshops make an important contribution to the livelihood of our community. Our master goldsmith makes sacred vessels as well as jewelry of any kind (also by individual order). Customers are also especially interested in the reworking of items. In the ceramics and pottery studios, one finds a large selection of reliefs and sculptures as well as many items of practical use from the potter’s wheel. Special orders and requests are individually designed and produced.

Our restoration workshop for papers and documents from ecclesiastical archives restores old manuscripts, incunabula and books. The workshop was established and equipped in 1973-74 at the request of the German Bishops‘ Conference and works exclusively for the diocesan archives of the 23 German dioceses. Unfortunately we are unable to take on private restoration work, but would be happy to give advice and refer you to other restoration experts.

The Abbey’s Guest Quarters

Hospitality is one of the main basic values of Benedictine life. St Benedict asks of us that „all guests who present themselves be welcomed as Christ“ (RB 53:1). Therefore guests are always welcome here. All are invited to pray with us, to enter into conversation with us or spend some time here in silence and reflection. Denomination or ideological background are of no importance to us when we receive guests.
People of the most diverse origins meet here in their mutual search for the sources of life. Whoever comes here can, within certain limits, join us in our monastic daily rhythm for up to one week, in exceptional cases even a little longer. One of our sisters would always be available to lend an ear for counseling.

The daily rate for overnight accommodation and three meals is € 65.00 Euro. Should you be interested in staying as a guest, you can contact us by letter, fax or e-mail.